During a spinal surgical procedure, for example, a cervical plate or the like is used to aide in the fusion of adjacent vertebrae, providing required stability and security after a damaged intervertebral disc has been removed from and an intervertebral cage and/or bone graft have been placed into the intervertebral space of interest. This cervical plate or the like is typically secured to the adjacent vertebrae via a plurality of cervical plate screws, well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. One problem that is often encountered is that these cervical plate screws tend to “back out” over time, thereby allowing the cervical plate or the like to loosen and the entire construct to fail. Various cervical plate screw locking mechanisms have been designed and manufactured to alleviate this “backing out” problem, however, such conventional cervical plate screw locking mechanisms have typically been ineffective and/or overly complicated, sacrificing the desirable low profile nature of the cervical plate or the like, for example, and/or increasing its ease of use and cost. Further, many of these conventional cervical plate screw locking mechanisms undesirably contact the associated cervical plate screws when placed, resulting in potential wear and binding issues over time. Thus, an improved cervical plate or the like and cervical plate screw locking mechanism are still needed in the art.